may 2006 hodgepodge

What a month May has been. I'm hitting the road for a little to widen the gap between me and burnout. But before I do, here's a hodgepodge of strange things that have been rattling around for a month or so.

Shatner, In Concert, Has Been
About a month ago, I caught William Shatner In Concert on TV. It definitely had Shatner in concert, but it went beyond that as well. It profiled Shatner's life and career, including his recent successes. In fact, I think his career is just peaking. Maybe it was a combination of his role in Miss Congeniality and the Priceline commercials that really kicked it all off. I don't know why, but I'm just entertained by Shatner -- it's the only reason why I bother to sometimes watch Boston Legal. The piece really captured a lot of the real Shatner.

William Shatner In Concert also prompted me to find a copy of his 2004 album, Has Been. I have to say, it's actually a good album. Shatner teams up with musicians like Ben Folds for a spoken word album. I'm not sure why, but it really works. Shatner's lyrics and his performance of them comes across as genuine -- you can tell a lot of the songs are a reflection on things in his life. So much better than his 1968 debut album "The Transformed Man," which included a track of Shatner blasting (yeah, I mean blasting) out trippy versions of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Mr Tambourine Man.

What can't this guy do? Act, write, direct, sing. Talent, I tell you!

Masters Program Kickoff
After finding my motivation, a long search for a program, several failed applications, and some realizations along the way, I finally am kicking off my masters program. I'll be starting a part-time program at University of Maryland University College, working towards a Master of Software Engineering. Classes kick off at the end of the month and if everything goes on track, I'll wrap up in the spring of 2008. First up: Issues in Software Engineering and Software Project Management.

Book Project Kickoff
It's been a goal of mine for a while to write a book and I think I'm finally ready to start writing. Well, at least outlining and prewriting. I've started to dig out some research papers, notes, and books I've collected over the years to synthesize some material. I'm hoping it will be a pretty unique primer on issues in software engineering, presented in a holistic context. (It's going to include topics not commonly talked about in software: psychology, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, art and design, history, and sociology.) I'm going for substantive, but readable by a broad audience. I'm avoiding alienation and oversimplification. Gotta find the balance.

Business Books
I don't know if it's just me, but most of the business books I've read turn out being a waste of time, money, and trees. It seems like business schools teach a lot about analytical thinking, but business writers (namely, business executives and their ghost writers) ignore analysis and prefer fallacy instead. Business books tend to make their point using anecdotal evidence, appeal to the majority, and non sequitur, among other sleights-of-words. An executive faces some problem with a set of circumstances and makes a decision. The problem gets resolved, which means that decision was a great one, therefore the reader should imitate that decision to solve their problems. Um, could it be possible that the decision was the right one just given the circumstances? How do we even know it was that particular decision that solved the problem? If one answer solved all like problems, life wouldn't be so hard, would it? Oh, and the other fallacy: an executive makes a decision. That executive happens to be rich, successful, and famous. Therefore, they must be doing the right thing, so take a page from their playbook. Example: his name starts with a T and rhymes with chump. If people believe that what he says and exemplifies on his television show is good business practice, we're in for a whole lot of hurtin'.